Financial coaching is relatively new to the UK and growing quickly. It is well known in the US with many well established personal finance personalities and robust financial coaching companies and programs. The UK has a wealth of personal finance material if you know where to look. Sadly addressing personal finance problems and financial literacy is not as much of a main stream issue as it should be. We are changing that! 

Get ahead of the curve in the UK and start your journey towards financial education, improvement and well-being today!

As one would have a Personal Fitness Trainer, a personally dedicated trainer to ensure your motivation to get fit and tailor make bespoke fitness programs for you, the same picture applies for a financial coach. 

A financial coach provides guidance and motivation to you, to improve your financial health and wellbeing. We work together to address confusion, uncertainty and demystify your finances, enabling you to become more in control and confident with your finances. More crucially we set you off on your new financial adventure with a clear plan and goals.

• I don’t feel in control of my finance 
• I don’t have a full understanding of my monthly outgoings
• I don't know anything about investing, where do I start
• I earn a good salary but don’t feel I have much to show for it at month’s end
• I am never quite sure where my money has gone and why
• I haven’t put much thought into retirement but know I need to, what do I do
• I’d like someone to coach and motivate me to reach my financial goals
• I need someone to be accountable to in order to keep myself in check 
• I need to get on top of my debt but don’t know where to start!
• I have bad spending habits I would like to change
• My children are becoming more independent and school education has not them with proper real-world money skills. What can I do to change this?
• Money problems are affecting my relationship and I need to change this, but don’t 

A financial coach provides guidance, motivational support and if required ongoing accountability. Financial coaching involves unravelling problems and/or providing a clear plan and way forward to your financial success, one you understand and are confident to tackle.

Some other things we will work thorough: 

• Creating clear financial goals and establishing money priorities in line with these.

• Look at your overall attitude towards money, where it originates and how it can be changed and improved.

• Work to identify any negative emotions towards money and finance with the goal of changing them, permanently. 

• Analyse your income and outgoing expenditure and identify areas preventing you from success. 

• Provide clear strategies and motivation to repay debt in the most time and money efficient ways.

• Provide solid objective perspectives on ways to improve your financial education

• Helping you to transition to a solid place of being able to consistently invest for the long term. 

There is absolutely no doubt that Financial Coaching is an investment in your current and future self. It may also be an investment in your children and or family members and can literally be a life-changing process. 

A financial planner works with clients to help them manage their money and reach their long-term financial goals. A financial planner needs a thorough knowledge of personal finance, taxes, budgeting, and investing. They may specialise in tax planning, asset allocation, risk management, retirement planning, or estate planning.

A  Financial Planner will provide appropriate advice on setting your money on a specifically advised course with money products and solutions they know are on the market. Usually they rarely concerned with how you manage your day-to-day finances or your relationship with and emotions around money. Financial Planning Services can be seen as the next step once you have good money habits and people will look for a Financial Advisors when they have sums of money to invest.  Financial coaching is about getting you to the starting gate.  

Most Financial coaches in comparison are completely independent and not associated with or have any link to  companies, financial or otherwise.  Lastly, Financial advisors tend to have base level cost requirements set for their services, such as a minimum salary or asset/portfolio value for you to be able to take on their services. Financial coaching is for anyone who is open to paying much more affordable rates and is in need of improving their financial standing, no matter what the level.

If you have read the ABOUT tab, you will see where I naturally gravitate and where my real passion for finance lies. My services are often of a huge benefit to the self-employed and business owners and people who have just received an inheritance or other large sum and want to more fully understand investment. 

Another of my favourite activities is helping clients brainstorm ideas to create additional income and creating small businesses. I am more than happy to help anybody who is serious about changing their financial life and willing to fully commit to implementing the necessary changes.  

As in any professional field, there are limits to what I am best placed to guide you on. If I don’t think my services are a good fit for your particular situation, I’ll say so and be more than happy to point you in a direction that would benefit you more thoroughly.

There in one significant underlying difference between Financial Advisors and Financial coaches. It is important that you understand the difference. The below statement are directly from the Financial Conduct authority (FCA)

Advice services

Firms often use the term ‘advice’ to mean a ‘recommendation of what you should do’. For example, a recommendation to buy or sell a particular investment.

• The recommendation is personal to you.

• It will be based on your specific circumstances and your financial objectives.

• Only a firm that is authorised by us can provide this kind of advice. 

Guidance services

‘Guidance’ is a much broader term and includes more general information about financial products.

• It can include information about different types of investments or general principles for you to consider when investing. 

• It will not recommend a specific course of action to you or give a personal recommendation about how you should invest. 

More information is available on the FCA web site:

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/understanding-advice-guidance-investments